“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” These poetic words carved on the Statue of Liberty have inspired generations of immigrants to seek new lives and new fortune in the United States. The problem is this noble sentiment is not shared by many Americans nor is it reflected in U.S. immigration policy. In fact, while we like to think of our country as the “great melting pot,” the history of U.S. immigration policy is a sordid one steeped in racism, exploitation and partisan politics.<br> So our inability to find a solution to the problem of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants flooding into our country from Mexico is really not new. What is new is the extent to which agriculture and our rural communities are being impacted by the immigration issue.<br>
Farming has always been a user of immigrant labor. In the past these were seasonal workers who traveled the nation harvesting the crops that could not be harvested by machines. For the most part, these people lived on the farms they worked on in housing provided by their employer. <br>
Today much of immigrant labor on farms is year round and workers often live in town. <br>
With a shortage of a domestic farm labor force, agriculture has had to turn to immigrant labor to do the work that needs to be done.
Many farmers have found themselves between a rock and a hard place when it comes to hiring immigrant labor.<br>
According to Paul Schagle, an immigration expert with the American Farm Bureau Federation, “The law says you can not discriminate against someone based on the documentation they present you but, at the same time, you can not knowingly hire an illegal worker.” Thus, a farmer can not ask potential employees if they are cleared to work in the U.S. “We need clarity in the law and a system that is workable for farmers of all sizes,” said Schagle.
Ambiguity in U.S. laws and a draconian INS bureaucracy is at the heart of the immigration problem. <br>
I can personally attest to the incomprehensible network of forms and procedures that are part of any immigration process.
Serious reform at INS would be a good beginning to improving legal immigration. In addition, a guest worker program that would provide a legal, seasonal work force for agriculture. Economist Pat O’Brian estimates that U.S. agriculture needs about 700,000 immigrant workers. <br>
O’Brian also said immigrant wages need to be brought up to the prevailing farm labor wage and worker rights need to be addressed.<br>
With agriculture facing a very tight labor market and informant activities on the increase, farmers can no longer see immigrant labor as cheap though illegal. It is, however, the responsibility of the government to make the needed changes. Enforcing the borders is only part of the answer. A process must be established that allows for legal entry into the U.S. for temporary work or permanent residency. The American Farm Bureau Federation has made obtaining a guest worker program one of its top policy priorities.<br>
Unfortunately, lawmakers and the administration have not made solving the immigration problem a top priority.
“Immigration is too important of a political issue to be solved,” said former USDA Secretary of Agriculture John Block. He said both parties would rather use the issue as a soapbox to blast the other, than to come together to find a solution.
O’Brian said the situation is going to get worse before it gets better. Only when American voters demand serious action will our leaders get serious about a solution.
Does agriculture need illegal immigrants? No, but it does need a legal immigrant workforce that farmers can hire without fear of prosecution.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Gary Truitt may write to him in care of this publication.